Penn Estabrook, Deputy DMR Commissioner, retires

Puckishly selecting Valentine’s Day as his last day on the job as Deputy Commissioner, Penn Estabrook completed 23 years of service in the Department of Marine Resources (DMR).

Recruited by then DMR Commissioner Spencer Apollonio in 1980, Estabrook came to Maine from South Carolina. In 1985 Apollonio tapped him to be Deputy Commissioner.

As Deputy Commissioner, Estabrook’s role included acting as DMR’s liaison with the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee. The position also includes budget and administration oversight.

Estabrook found dealing with the reduced state budgets of the late 1980’s and mid-1990’s his most challenging task. “Budget limits severely constrained the capacity of the agency,” he said.

As DMR’s representative to the Marine Resources Committee, Estabrook worked with legislators struggling with difficult issues and frequently disgruntled constituents.

“The Marine Resources Committee,” he said, “is the only committee where every decision made directly affects people’s incomes. Most legislators deal with grand issues like building roads.”

The Committee’s work has been doubly hard because “in the last 10 years, every decision has been constraining – for very good reasons, but constraining, nonetheless.”

It’s no wonder that legislators tend to avoid serving on it. Estabrook pointed out that only a few legislators, most recently Sen. Jill Goldthwait (I-Bar Harbor) and Rep. David Etnier (D-Harpswell), requested that committee.

Each of the four DMR Commissioners he served under were “very different and all were very able,” said Estabrook, referring to Apollonio, Bill Brennan, Robin Alden and George Lapointe.

With a tough legislative season of budget cuts and record number of bills already underway, Lapointe is working quickly to fill the position. He expects to appoint a new Deputy Commissioner by the end of February. Deirdre Gilbert, Special Assistant to the Commissioner, is acting as DMR’s liaison to the legislature in the meantime.

Estabrook said he has no immediate plans other than to “get used to smelling the roses.”